The present invention relates to heat exchangers, and more specifically to heat exchangers which are capable of recovering the heat energy contained in waste flue gases generated in industrial furnaces.
Due to the increasing costs associated with the generation of heat and electricity for operating industrial plants and the concurrent desire to reduce pollutent emission (including heat emission) into the surrounding atmosphere, the recovery of the heat content in the waste flue gases generated in industrial processes has become an increasingly desirable goal. One problem with achieving such energy recovery, however, has been the fact that dust usually is contained in such waste flue gas streams, and this dust tends to clog the flanges in the fins, flues, exhaust outlets, etc., of heat exchangers positioned in the flue gas ducts.
The present invention is aimed at the construction of a heat exchanger which can be effectively used in a flue gas duct to recover the energy values contained in the waste gas streams passing therethrough and for concurrently recovering much of the dust contained therein.